student loans/not working during grad school

[Ejt5100]

Hey everyone, I am back again with a new question!

 

Loans.. so I really don't want to work during grad school, so I can focus and obviously succeed. I've never applied for loans before and am a little nervous I wont get money for classes, housing and books. Anyone have any information for me??

 

 

Thanks!

[sabrono]

Federal loans most likely aren't going to cover your tuition and cost of living, so you should look into private loans. Companies like Sallie Mae will loan to almost anything to anyone (they gave me a decent interest rate when I had 0 credit), the money will go through your school and the school will issue you a refund check that you can use on anything you want. Discover loans tend to be a little pickier, but they have way better interest rates. I'd still save up as much as possible for living costs, though. I did this for my undergrad and my school often wouldn't send the refund check until close to the middle of the semester, leaving me to scramble to find a way to pay rent and buy food. 

[jpiccolo]

Definitely submit for fafsa. I didn't get a ton to cover everything but I did get some loans. I never qualified in undergrad or as a dependent to my parents. For grad school I only input my own info and qualified. 

[HooHooHooHoosiers]

Can I kind of piggyback off your question here!?  First off, submit the FAFSA. Everyone going to graduate school is considered an independent no matter what age you are. Most people can get something like 22,000 a year in federal student loans. My question is, what do you do if this doesn't cover your cost of tuition? What about living expenses? For most people, they are not going to be able to work while in school, and even if they can, it is not nearly enough to cover rent, food, etc. Does anyone know how much you can take out in PLUS loans and if these can be used for whatever you still need for tuition AND living expenses?? Are private loans the only other way?? This is all so expensive!

[AlwaysaFalcon]

I agree with @sabrono. I took out a loan through Sallie Mae to cover my living expenses. It was a very easy application process and they got back to me right away. I was issued a refund check from my school. Still fill out the FAFSA though because that will help with tuition costs. 

[FLSLP2018]

On 1/16/2018 at 7:03 PM, jpiccolo said:

Definitely submit for fafsa. I didn't get a ton to cover everything but I did get some loans. I never qualified in undergrad or as a dependent to my parents. For grad school I only input my own info and qualified. 

When you applied for the FAFSA as an independent/for grad school did your parents still help you with some stuff? Also did you lose any benefits by not having your parents claim you anymore? I have no idea how to do the FAFSA but need to start applying because I am going to have full responsibility for my grad school tuition. 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

@FLSLP2018 If you are in grad school, no matter how much help your parents give you, you are considered independent by FAFSA standards. This means, if your parents make good money but you don't make any money, you get to only file what you make, helping you get more aid. For me, I was able to get federal grants from FAFSA, but I still lived at home with my parents and didn't have any major expenses (like rent or groceries). 

[FLSLP2018]

1 hour ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

@FLSLP2018 If you are in grad school, no matter how much help your parents give you, you are considered independent by FAFSA standards. This means, if your parents make good money but you don't make any money, you get to only file what you make, helping you get more aid. For me, I was able to get federal grants from FAFSA, but I still lived at home with my parents and didn't have any major expenses (like rent or groceries). 

Oh wow that's amazing! I didn't think I would apply for anything because my parents do make good money and will still be paying for my rent and living expenses but some of my schools are very expensive, up to $70,000 for tuition so it would be great to get some money! Thanks for the info  

[jpiccolo]

4 hours ago, FLSLP2018 said:

When you applied for the FAFSA as an independent/for grad school did your parents still help you with some stuff? Also did you lose any benefits by not having your parents claim you anymore? I have no idea how to do the FAFSA but need to start applying because I am going to have full responsibility for my grad school tuition. 

They did actually help a little but it had been several years since they claimed me on taxes as a dependent. I was still on their health insurance for another year no problem. Fafsa isn't too hard to do; you just need any tax info that you will file or have filed. I just left all the parent stuff blank. 

[MarSLP2019]

You can live completely off of what the FAFSA gives you. Your school has a summary cost of what it costs to live during school. That will basically be what your federal loans come out to being. You don't specifically request an amount or anything. They start off with some loan (I can't remember the name) and then once the limit is reached on that, you give you the rest in Grad PLUS loans which is the higher interest rate one.

If you decide this isn't enough, you can of course go to private loans. Most people in my grad cohort, I'm almost positive are not doing this.

I know I was terrified that cost was going to limit me, and granted, I still leave school with a bunch of debt.